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Armenia

Armenian border guards take over Iranian border checkpoint from Russia

by Arshaluys Barseghyan

•2 min read

Armenian National Security Service border troops will take over full control of the checkpoint on the Armenia-Iran border from Russian troops from January 2025, with Armenian border guards also serving alongside the Russian contingent along the borders with Iran and Turkey. The agreement was announced by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s spokesperson following a meeting between Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin on 8 October on the sidelines of the Council of Heads of State

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Image via president.az

Armenia

Aliyev: peace treaty ‘impossible’ with Armenia’s current constitution

by Arshaluys Barseghyan

•3 min read

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has stated that it will be ‘simply impossible’ to reach a peace deal if the Armenian constitution ‘remains unchanged’. Aliyev stated on Thursday that the Armenian constitution’s basis, the Declaration of Independence, ‘contains territorial claims against Azerbaijan’. Armenia’s Declaration of Independence, signed in August 1990, includes a joint decision by the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Karabakh Council to ‘reunify the Armenian SSR and the

Pashinyan and Putin in Moscow on 8 May. Official photo

Armenia

Russia and Armenia agree on withdrawal of border guards

by Tata Shoshiashvili

•2 min read

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan have agreed on the withdrawal of Russian military and border guards from several regions of Armenia at a meeting in Moscow. On Thursday, Russian Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told state news agency RIA Novosti that Russian border guards would remain stationed on Armenia’s borders with Iran and Turkey ‘at the request of the Armenian side’. Peskov said the decision was made in a one-on-one meeting betwee

Armenia

Armenian MP accused of promoting Genocide denial

by Arshaluys Barseghyan

•3 min read

An Armenian MP has come under fire for claiming that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called for the compilation of the names of the victims of the Armenian Genocide. MP Andranik Kocharyan, the chair of the Armenian Parliament’s Defence Committee, claimed on Sunday that Pashinyan aimed to make a complete list of victims to ‘build real foundations’ for documentation the Armenian Genocide. He stated the following day that the creation of the list was ‘very important for building our relations in

CCTV footage shared by the SSG reportedly showing explosives being brought into Batumi.

Bulgaria

Georgia ‘seizes Ukrainian explosives bound for Russia’

by Tata Shoshiashvili

•2 min read

Georgia’s State Security Service (SSG) has claimed to have seized 14 kilogrammes of explosives being transported by a group of Ukrainians, Georgians, and Armenians through Georgia to Russia. On Monday, the director of the SSG’s counter-terrorism department, Bacha Mgeladze, stated the explosives were brought to Georgia on 19 January from the Ukrainian city of Odesa via Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey. Mgeladze said they had identified seven Georgian nationals, three Ukrainians, and two Armenian

The chair of the Turkish Parliament’s Defence Committee, Hulusi Akar, during a visit to Baku on 31 January 2024. Image via Azertac.

Armenia

Turkey warns Armenia to accept ‘hand of peace’

by Arshaluys Barseghyan

•2 min read

Turkey has warned Armenia that it would suffer ‘serious damages’ if it failed to secure a peace treaty with Azerbaijan. The comments came from the chair of the Turkish Parliament’s Defence Committee, Hulusi Akar, during a visit to Baku on Monday. ‘[Armenia] should accept the hand of peace extended by Azerbaijan, otherwise it will suffer serious damages just like in the 2020 war’, he said. Akar previously served as minister of defence and the chief of staff of the Turkish armed forces. In re

Commemoration of the Circassian Genocide in Ankara, 21 May 2023. Photo: Alexander Thatcher/OC Media

Abkhazia

Foreboding and fracture for Turkey’s North Caucasus diaspora

by Alexander Thatcher

•7 min read

Turkey’s North Caucasian diaspora has long occupied an uneasy position between Ankara and Moscow, but after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Erdogan’s re-election, tensions within the community and its representative organisations are coming to the fore. This year’s commemoration of the Circassian Genocide on 21 May stood out: instead of primarily gathering in Istanbul, the bulk of the commemoration took place in Ankara at Anıtpark — a park built in the shadow of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s mausol